Here are some pictures from a trip my wife Sandy and I took to Newfoundland and Labrador. (This is also and experiment in uploading pictures directly to Stromtrooper.)
If you are a Facebook friend these are the same photos.
Through Quebec and onto he Confederation Bridge to PEI. My wife Sandy on her Triumph Tiger XRX Low
"Myrtle's on the Bay." Great place to stop for a bite! End of Captain Cook's Trail in Lark Harbour. Great food, great Hospitality! Me on the back patio (People LOVE my sexy boots and shorts!!! ) Great view out back!
Signal Hill at St. John's where Marconi received the first Trans-Atlantic radio signal, my wife Sandy plus Fort Amherst, across the mouth of the Harbour
We went on a boat trip to see Puffins. Interesting birds! I didn't get any good shots of them but did get some other birds plus the shoreline is crazy!
After that we worked our way up to Gros Morne and took a scenic cruise there,. The scenery is beautiful and we also were fortunate enough to see a number of Bald Eagles. Unfortunately I didn't have my SLR and 300 mm lens so the eagle shots aren't the greatest. I think it's the first time I have seen Eagles in the wild.
Unfortunately after that there was a bit of an incident and hour north of Port Hope Simpson in Labrador. We left Sandy's bike in a Garage in Labrador and she flew home with a cast on her left Foot. I carried most of her stuff as well as mine on the back of my DL 1000. I weighed it later and the bags totaled 105 lbs and the topcase was 32 lbs. (She's okay and I am her slave at home as she is not very mobile with crutches on.)
I forgot that until I left Labrador I also had two 5-liter cans of gas hanging from my topcase (was in preparation for the long distances with no gas on the Labrador Highway.) Each would have had 3.85 kg or about 8.5 lbs of gas so an additional 20 or so lbs was hanging there (with the weight of the gas cans.) Before leaving Labrador I filled up my tank with them and gave away the gas cans since I figured I had enough back there.
Anyone who knows me likely knows I love train stuff; in particular Steam Engines. I did have some time before getting on the ferry to Nova Scotia and stopped to see the "Newfie Bullet" In Corner Brook.
It was 2,000 km/1,200 miles to home after getting off the Ferry. I took a couple of days to get home from the Ferry.
Nice! thanks Tom. I do enjoy Eastern Canada, I have spent much time on the South Shore, Nova Scotia. Sorry about Sandy.
I have seen a few Moose. One on a hike in Cape Breton. Once I went back to view a roadkill Moose in Newfie. They are big and get your attention.
We left Aug 8th and I got back Aug 24th. Her incident happened August 20th so that ended our Labrador Highway experience.
We took three days to go to Sydney. We stopped in Montreal to put new tires on my bike (I had about two days notice that we were leaving when we did.) We did a little side trip through PEI. We got on the ferry from Sydney to Port Aux Basque in Newfoundland on Saturday Aug 11th. We did the little side trip down Captain Cook's Trail from Corner Brook. We spent three full nights in St John's. We had it in our mind to go to St. Pierre/Miquelon but evidently everything would be closed when we would be there because of their anniversary. We decided to spend extra time in St. John's. Nice city! Since we were heading to Labrador and intended to do the highway we didn't see as much in Newfoundland as we could have.
Outstanding!! I leave for NFLD September 7. Was going to ride the TransLab, but since I am going solo, and I have zero dirt and very limited gravel experience, it wouldn’t be wise for me.
Outstanding!! I leave for NFLD September 7. Was going to ride the TransLab, but since I am going solo, and I have zero dirt and very limited gravel experience, it wouldn’t be wise for me.
...
I know of at least one friend that did it solo before there was much for pavement. I don't think I would want to do that.
One thing that can be hard for us that live in built up areas to get our heads around is that you have no communication. You can borrow a satellite phone but when we tried that they were all lent out. We only had cell in the area near Blanc-Sablon (where the ferry docks.) The small communities had dial up phone but not cell. When at hotels the wi-fi was sketchy (you would have internet for a bit then it would stop a while and restart. It was the same pretty much everywhere.) We only made it about 300 km/200 miles before her incident (I have to check the GPS) so it may have been different elsewhere but I doubt it.
The good thing is there is enough traffic that when something happens (assuming you stay on the road!) there is enough traffic that someone is bound to help you. And they very much WILL help you... people there are the most incredible, friendly helpful people I have ever met! A by-passer took my wife and her gear 2 hours to a clinic (which was mostly on their way but still...) and some workers put her bike in the back of their pickup and took it to a garage in Port Hope Simpson. Everyone was so incredibly helpful!
Sounds( and looks) like a great trip Tom. Sorry to hear about Sandy. Hope she heals quick. That area of the country is on my list to do in the near future.
Nice photographs! I have not made it to the NE US much less Canada but it's on "the list". It reminds me a lot of the Ireland coastal towns.
Sorry to hear about Sandy...how is she doing now? And good grief I would have seriously considered shipping her stuff home....damn that was a heavy load.
Sandy has a cast on her left foot and is using crutches. She broke her tibia. She is doing okay; just frustrated that she has to depend on me and can't do stuff she normally would (she is very independent!) I'm feeling the load. Tomorrow I'm off work and after watching F1 I am changing the bike air filter, clutch pushrod seal and rear brake pads.
My honey-do list includes but isn't limited to: vacuuming the house, cleaning the bathrooms, doing a few loads of laundry, ironing shirts tidying the garage, some yard-work, getting groceries and making dinner. I have a suspicion she may be in the cast for quite a while, at least when I'm at home. (It's a removable air-cast.)
I thought briefly about shipping her stuff but really it didn't feel like there was much of a ride left. When riding I could barely notice the load. Turned out to be about 200 km/120 miles in Labrador, 600 km/370 miles in Newfoundland and 2,000 km (1,200 miles) of slabbing from Sydney to home. The last 2,000 km was just slabbing down the highway and was done in two days (mileage REALLY sucked!)
Great pics Tom! I miss NFLD already. We had a wonderful time with the family. It was a pleasure meeting you by chance in Port aux Basque! I hope Sandy recovers soon so you can get another ride in together before the season is out.
One thing I noticed in NFLD was the number of potholes... I had to be very aware pulling our trailer not to blow one of those dinky tires up. Then 60k from home I have a trailer tire blowout on perfectly smooth pavement
Glad you got home safe and it was great chatting with you.
It was my pleasure meeting you! I have a feeling she will have recovered long before the insurance settles out how they are going to handle her bike!
Yeah I thought it was hilarious how they would have sings saying "Potholes ahead" and how they highlighted them with the yellow paint. Sandy commented wondering why they didn't just fix them. Someone (a local?) told me the nearest asphalt could be 50 km away and there are a lot of roads and not a lot of people to do the repairs. They were often very serious potholes! I think you could have lost a kid in some of those potholes!
Givi Trekker Outback 58 liter (Sandy has a smaller one, I think it's 42 liters.)
For years I had a Maxia E52 (52 Liter Givi rounded plastic) but it was getting tired and needed a new case. I thought i would get a newer version of the Maxi (55 or 58 liter?) but really liked this one so I picked this one up this spring. Way too expensive buy very happy with it!
Nice photos! Looks like a good trip except for the mishap.
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